SBI eyes chunk of remittances market

State Bank of India (SBI) is working on a plan to corner a significant chunk of the burgeoning inward remittances market, estimated to be worth around $300 billion globally.

Inward remittances are direct transfers of funds from one person abroad to another in India, typically through a bank or wire transfer agency. Such transfers are generally understood to provide family support.

India, with a $45-billion share during the current year, is in a leadership position and SBI currently has $7 billion of the pie.

SBI chairman OP Bhatt said on Friday that SBI currently accounts for 17 per cent of these inward remittances on its own and a total of 25 per cent including its subsidiaries.

According to a study released by the World Bank recently, remittances from developing countries are projected to grow to 2.9 per cent in 2010 and 6.3 per cent in 2011. India has recently overtaken Mexico and China to become the highest inward remittances market in the world.

Bhatt claimed that given SBI’s size, a 25 per cent marketshare was far from satisfactory. “With 17,000 branches, we are doing 1,200 inward remittance transactions a day and targeting 1,500-2,000 a day. We should be doing at least 17,000 of such transactions a day.”